#BikeIsBest Advocacy Digest - Edition No.32
#BikeIsBest Digest Edition No. 32 | Friday, September 23rd 2022 | View in browser
Hello and after a long weekend of reflection for some of us, and of an extra rest day, we are back to the business of cycling in all its forms.
BIG CHALLENGES AREN’T GOING AWAY
The world has mourned the passing of Queen Elizabeth II in suitably grand style, and the lying-in-state queue became a symbol of the esteem we held the late monarch in. Meanwhile, following World Car Free Day, Pakistan continues to reel from the combined devastating effects of glacier snowmelt and heavy rainfall, caused by climate change.
BIG STORIES FOR CYCLING ADVOCACY
KING CHARLES PLANNER
In this piece from 2014 in Architectural Review King Charles critiqued the way towns and cities are planned in silos, and around the motor vehicle. He said: “We have to work out now how we will create resilient, truly sustainable and human-scale urban environments that are land-efficient, use low-carbon materials and do not depend so completely upon the car”. He added: “The pedestrian must be at the centre of the design process. Streets must be reclaimed from the car”.
WORLD CAR-FREE DAY BONANZA
Last Thursday was World Car-Free day, and London and Liverpool are among UK cities who celebrated by removing through traffic on key streets for the day, opening up space for active travel. Car infrastructure takes up 30-60% of urban areas globally, and as this Wired piece from June points out, experiencing car-free streets can change people’s minds in favour of such measures.
CASE FOR EBIKE-CAMPERVANS?
Outside Online makes the case for swapping a gas-guzzling campervan for an ebike, illuminating the possible cost savings and, importantly, the practicalities of making day-to-day trips by pedal power instead of oversized wagons. As the author points out, ebikes certainly can’t replace all large vehicle trips, but they can replace a lot of them.
AND STILL I RIDE
Researcher Dulce Pedroso presented at IdeasWithBeers on her research around cycling from a race and gender perspective. She speaks on how language and imagery shape our view of cycling and who it is for. She interviewed nine women while cycling in five UK cities. One spoke about wanting narratives about cyclists who struggle to get up a hill, for example, or hearing from women of colour, while another felt self-conscious cycling in the countryside as a woman of colour in a predominantly white environment.
AIR POLLUTION AND CANCER RULES REWRITTEN
Last week the BBC reported on a major study finding fine particulates of the types found in exhaust, brake and tyre wear stimulate cell changes that cause cancer. One in ten lung cancers is caused by air pollution, and 99% of the world lives in air that exceeds safe levels, so it’s big news in our understanding of cancer, and preventing it. We still need to tackle the causes of air pollution, though.
OTHER HEADLINES
DANISH CYCLING FOR THE CLIMATE
Danish cycling organisation DanishCyklistForBundet is encouraging people to save masses of CO2 by cycling for every trip on 21 September. They point out cycling trips of less than 7.5km emit 92% less CO2 than car trips, meaning carbon savings increase rapidly with each cycle trip.
INTERESTING GRAPHIC OF THE WEEK
When researcher Dulce Pedroso invited women to take part in interviews with her while cycling, people got in touch with questions about taking part. Participants’ main concerns are perhaps illustrative of women’s perceptions of cycling. Dulce didn’t mention a location, but two women assumed interviews would be in London.
ACTIVE TRAVEL PHRASE OF THE WEEK; BRAESS' PARADOX
The theory that states if you add more lanes to a road, congestion usually increases. A case in point is the Katy Freeway in Houston, expanded to 26 lanes at a cost of $2.8 billion in 2018. Travel times have since increased by 30-55% (see last week’s image).
Until next time,
Founder, #BikeIsBest
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